TERMINAL 4 TO TRANSFORM CAIRO’S CAPACITY AND COMPETITIVE POSITION

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly met with Civil Aviation Minister Sameh el-Hefny on 12 July 2026 to review progress on the construction of Terminal 4 at Cairo International Airport. The Prime Minister said Egypt was giving high priority to developing the civil aviation sector through upgraded airport infrastructure, improved services and enhanced safety and security standards, with the objective of improving the passenger experience and strengthening the competitiveness of Egyptian airports at both regional and international level. The meeting was the latest in a series of high-level reviews of the project, which the government has characterised as a flagship component of Egypt’s Vision 2030 strategy.

El-Hefny said the new terminal was part of a national plan to expand and modernise Cairo International Airport and strengthen its position as a regional and global air transport hub. He said the project was aimed at increasing the airport’s total annual passenger capacity to approximately 70 million, in line with expected long-term growth in air travel demand. The figure represents a more than doubling of Cairo International Airport’s current throughput: the airport handled 30.94 million passengers in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 6.8% on the 28.97 million recorded in 2024, according to official data released by the State Information Service of Egypt.

CAIRO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: CURRENT SCALE AND PERFORMANCE

Cairo International Airport is Egypt’s primary aviation gateway and one of the busiest airports on the African continent, covering an area of approximately 37 square kilometres to the northeast of Cairo city centre. The airport currently operates three terminals: Terminal 1, which serves primarily domestic and some international services and has undergone significant rehabilitation; Terminal 2, which has been closed for comprehensive renovation and will reopen with a capacity of approximately 8.5 million international passengers per year; and Terminal 3, whose 211,000 square metre facility was purpose-built to international standards and doubled the airport’s designed capacity when it opened.

In 2025, the airport handled 224,303 flights — a 4.8% increase on the 2024 figure of approximately 214,100 — and recorded a peak single day of approximately 103,000 passengers on 696 flights during the year-end holiday period, the highest single-day figure in the airport’s operational history. Egypt’s civil aviation sector generated an economic impact of $21.1 billion in 2023, equivalent to 5.3% of national GDP, and supported approximately 1.4 million jobs, according to data cited in aviation sector analyses. The airport received the Leadership in Sustainability for Hub Airports award from ACI Africa at its 2025 annual general assembly, and has held a Silver Award in the ACI Green Airports Recognition programme for four consecutive years.

TERMINAL 4: SMART DESIGN, AI INTEGRATION AND SUSTAINABILITY

El-Hefny said Terminal 4 would incorporate the latest airport design and operational concepts, including artificial intelligence and digital technologies, to create a smart, sustainable operating system that improves both services and operational efficiency while meeting international environmental and sustainability standards. The terminal is designed to accommodate additional passengers and airlines and to boost transit traffic — a dimension of growth that is directly linked to Cairo’s geographic position at the convergence of Africa, Asia and Europe, giving the airport a structural advantage as a connecting hub for intercontinental traffic.

The Minister said the project would strengthen Cairo airport’s overall competitiveness, attract more international airlines, support inbound tourism and contribute to trade and investment flows in line with Egypt’s Vision 2030 development strategy, which designates the country as a regional transport and logistics hub. Planning work for Terminal 4 has been under development since at least 2023, when the Cairo Airport Company signed memoranda of understanding with international partners to explore the design of a new smart terminal. The project entered initial implementation phases by 2025, with the July 2026 ministerial review confirming that construction progress is being actively monitored at the highest levels of the Egyptian government.